Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has reiterated that he’s happy with Harvey Elliott, but a decision on his future could lie ahead.
The 22-year-old joined Villa from Liverpool in an initial loan deal on transfer deadline day this past summer, but he has since gone on to make just five appearances for the club.
It has been widely reported that should he make 10 appearances, that will trigger an obligation for Villa to sign him on a permanent basis for a fee believed to be around £30m to £35m, but not only has he not featured in recent weeks, but he has struggled to even make the matchday squad having been absent for our last three Premier League games in which he was eligible to be involved.
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Naturally, that has raised question marks over his future with us as if he has failed to convince Emery that he is able to adapt and play a key role for him, then we would want to avoid having to sign him outright at the end of the season and perhaps look elsewhere for a different solution.
With a hectic fixture schedule coming up, the expectation is that Elliott will get more opportunities to feature, and while Emery hinted at that being the case and although he reiterated once again that he’s happy with Elliott’s application and mindset, there is possibly a decision ahead in January over what path is best for all concerned.
“We now have a lot of matches,” he said, as quoted by BirminghamLive. “We must focus on each match with the players we have now,” Emery said.
“We are not thinking about the transfer window in January. He is one of our players and hopefully he can help us. Then, we are going to decide. There are other players performing very well. He is training very well every day.”
Villa’s Europa League clash with Young Boys on Thursday evening will surely be one of the games that many supporters would anticipate Elliott to be involved in, and so time will tell if he gets the nod in midweek or not.
That said, the Villa boss also makes a very good point in terms of the form and impact from others in the squad so far this season, as the likes of Morgan Rogers, Emiliano Buendia, Donyell Malen and others have all been decisive up to this point, and so it will be difficult for Elliott to force his way up the pecking order.
With a game every four of five days for the next few weeks though, it will be fascinating to see how the situation plays out as it could give us a very clear indication on where Elliott’s longer-term future lies.